


If You Must Pretend

by TheGreatCatsby



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Blood, Hurt/Comfort, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-27
Updated: 2013-08-27
Packaged: 2017-12-24 20:39:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/944409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGreatCatsby/pseuds/TheGreatCatsby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a time to be enemies, and this isn't it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If You Must Pretend

**Author's Note:**

> This little ficlet is for a Tumblr meme. The prompt was "Quiet Me"-"a drabble about one character trying to calm the other down." I don't know if Loki's really capable of being completely calmed down, but still. Enjoy!

“Do not touch me.” 

Tony’s hand hovered above Loki’s shoulder. Loki knelt on the ground, hunched over, a pool of blood slowly forming on the floor. 

“Why not? You’re kind of bleeding all over my floor. Why are you here?” 

“I don’t need your pity,” Loki said. 

Tony barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “Wasn’t gonna give it,” he said. 

“Good,” Loki slurred. He waved a hand. “Call your team.”

“You disabled Jarvis,” Tony pointed out. “Besides, I have a habit of making bad decisions and this is probably one of them. Besides, everyone else is in New York.” 

“How terrible for you,” Loki sneered. 

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take for a little me-time,” Tony said, walking around to stand in front of Loki. He felt tall, now. Loki glanced up at him and then back down at his wound.

“This must be excellent revenge,” Loki said, “to see your enemy brought low, so desperate that the only shelter he can seek is that of his enemy. Injured, with no allies, completely at your mercy.” He grimaced. “Kneeling before you.” 

“Poetic justice,” Tony said. “How about that? You bring up a few good points. How do you know I live here, first of all? And why did you come if we’re enemies?” 

“Barton,” Loki said through gritted teeth, hunching over further. “I had hoped you would be elsewhere.” 

“Fair enough,” Tony said. There was still more blood on the floor. He wondered what he should do. The prudent thing would be to call SHIELD, but SHIELD’s arrival would take the fun out of things. “How about we make a deal?” 

“There is always a price,” Loki said. 

Tony regarded him. He’d never seen Loki as anything other than a madman, shouting into the void with no one around to hear him, or at least no one who was willing to listen. And now he seemed like a person. A person with a lot of issues, but he bled like everyone else. He had emotions like everyone else, apparently, for all his talk about being a god. 

“The problem is,” Tony said, “I don’t think I can hold you at your word.” 

“You are more intelligent than most, then,” Loki muttered. 

“Yeah, I know,” Tony said. “I’m actually a genius. I heard you’re pretty smart, too, so you know I can’t just let you stay here without asking something. I’m a charitable man, but not that charitable. There’s always a price, and I can afford to negotiate.” 

“How much can you afford to lose?” 

Tony raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you’re in the position to make me lose anything. I have the advantage. You’re the one with a lot to lose. And I’m curious. I thought you’d be in a prison in Asgard somewhere and instead you’re here. Honestly, I blame them as much as you. They were responsible for keeping you there. No one really expects someone like you not to take advantage of an opening when they see it.” 

“I didn’t escape,” Loki said. 

“What?” 

Loki coughed. “I have been running from those that freed me.”

“You’re telling me that some enemies of yours freed you,” Tony said. “Or is that a lie to gain my sympathy?” 

“I don’t need your sympathy,” Loki snarled. “I can tell you any story and you would believe it a lie. Perhaps I am lying. Such is my nature. Pure truths are agents of destruction and are better left unsaid.” 

Tony laughed. “Who taught you that? Good old dad?” 

Loki glared at him. 

“My price,” Tony continued, “is that I want you to ask for help. And to tell me why you’re here. A little honesty would be nice.” 

“You wouldn’t believe me,” Loki said. “You would have me become weak in your presence and then disregard my words as nothing.” 

“It’s not weak to ask for help,” Tony said. “I learned that the hard way; destroyed this place, actually. I should probably get a mansion somewhere else—this one gets destroyed too much. But that’s neither here nor there.” He knelt down so that he could catch Loki’s gaze at eye-level. “Tell me the truth. I know bullshit when I hear it.” Loki didn’t move. Tony leaned forward. “Tell me. Or I call SHIELD.” 

With a sharp intake of breath, Loki suddenly moved his arms and made a wrenching motion. He extracted a pure black knife from his stomach and tossed it aside, blood spattering on the floor. 

Tony had only a second to think, “Oh, hey, knife” before Loki slumped forward. Instinctively, Tony moved back, then realized that Loki might fall face-first on the floor. But Loki caught himself with his hands, blood pouring more freely from the wound. 

“There is your truth,” Loki snarled. 

Tony looked from Loki’s paper-white face to the knife on the floor and said, “That’s not it.” 

“You want information,” Loki hissed, voice cracking. “The truth is an ugly thing. You want to get inside my mind, find my weakness, neutralize me and make me nothing. You want to see me at my worst.” His voice rose, and he was shaking. “You will never see me at my worst. You will never break me. _I have already done that to myself!_ ” This last was practically a shriek. 

Tony swallowed and felt a sudden compulsion to move closer. He hadn’t expected this sudden break. He hadn’t expected an outpouring of any emotion other than anger, but this was different. He could see the loathing in Loki’s eyes, but it was all directed inwards. 

“I am a monster,” Loki continued, voice ragged from lack of strength, but still he forced the words out. “That is what people expect me to be, and that is what I have made myself, because everything else is a lie. Take what you will, Stark, but know this: I have already taken everything I am and tossed it into the void. There is nothing left for you to have.” This last left Loki gasping, one hand clutching at his wound, the other shaking to hold him up. 

Tony knew he was going to fall. And when Loki pitched forward, this time he didn’t move away. He grabbed Loki and pulled him close. 

Loki tried to pull away, struggling in Tony’s grasp, but Tony held tight. “I’m not letting go,” he said. “Where would you go if I did?” 

Loki exhaled sharply and began struggling again. 

Tony swallowed. “You can stay.” 

“I don’t want your pity,” Loki snapped. 

“It isn’t pity,” Tony said. “I’m being a decent person. How long has it been since you’ve interacted with a decent person?” 

“I won’t make promises,” Loki muttered. 

“I’m not asking you to,” Tony said. “Just stay the night. Heal. Thor would kill me if he knew I let his little brother die.” Loki stiffened at the mention of Thor. “Look, I know when someone needs a break. This is yours—just take it. You can go back to being evil tomorrow.” 

Loki’s eyelids were fluttering; he was having trouble keeping them open. “I must,” he slurred. “It is the only way.” 

“I know,” Tony said. Loki became completely slack and Tony lowered him to the floor, keeping him on his side so he wouldn’t choke on blood. And he sat there, watching him. “But, no.” 

When morning came, the blood on the floor was gone, and so was Loki, and Tony sat on the floor of his mansion alone with only the memory of a strange encounter and the black knife that had been embedded in his adversary, lying within his reach.


End file.
